“Talking Baseball and Beyond” will be an interviewstyle event that intimately explores the careers and personalities of two former baseball stars, Dwight Gooden and Bobby Valentine. Ellis Henican, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Fox News commentator and writer of Doc: A Memoir will provide thought-provoking questions that will offer attendees a greater insight into the minds and careers of two of the most interesting men to ever wear a New York Mets uniform.

Former Major League manager Bobby Valentine was named executive director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Sacred Heart University in February of 2013. Baseball fans might best know Valentine from his stints managing the Texas Rangers, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox in the majors and the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League, or from his work as a baseball analyst for ESPN in 2009 and 2010.

At age nineteen, Dwight Gooden was baseball’s pitching phenom, thrilling New Yorkers and fans everywhere.

Nicknamed “Doc” for his surgical 98 mph fastball, he was named Rookie of the Year, was the youngest player to appear in an All-Star game, received the Cy Young Award and guided the New York Mets to a World Series victory... his first of three World Series rings. After a long battle with drug addiction, Gooden, a dedicated father of seven, is clean and working with at-risk children and adults.

Ellis Henican is a columnist at Newsday and an on-air commentator at the Fox News Channel. He is author of three recent New York Times best sellers: Home Team with Saints coach Sean Payton, In The Blink of an Eye with NASCAR legend Michael Waltrip and Damn Few with Navy SEAL legend Rorke Denver.